{"id":16353,"date":"2018-02-08T11:11:12","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T19:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=16353"},"modified":"2018-02-08T11:11:12","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T19:11:12","slug":"the-taste-of-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-taste-of-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"The taste of religion"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his introduction to \u201cConsuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture\u201d, Vincent J. Miller writes, \u201cthis book explores how consumer culture changes our relationships with religious beliefs, narratives, and symbols\u2026 chapter 2 will present the core of the analysis. The basic idea is the \u2018commodification of culture.\u2019\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

This book is both refreshing and dense, with so many cultural references, observations and examples to keep the readers\u2019 attention, while at the same time using these familiar images to explain his deeper points. Miller is not just saying, that we live in a consumer culture, where people enjoy buying or getting more things. He is also saying that our culture itself, the ideas, symbols and experiences have also become consumables. They have become commodities.<\/p>\n

Since Miller himself had written that chapter 2 would be the core of his analysis, I sat down to focus on that chapter. Nearly 2 hours and 40 pages later, I finally came back up for air. My wife looked at me and paid me a compliment, she said: \u201cyou look tired!\u201d Miller\u2019s book is no easy-reading pop culture consumable. He surveys the literature, from economic theory, to philosophy, theology, sociology and more.<\/p>\n

One of Miller\u2019s key points about the commodification of culture, including religious beliefs and political symbols, is that it functions just like a trip to the local store. The items on display \u201ccall to us with their appearance and packaging. Glistening meats and colorful produce are arrayed in a spectacle of plenty\u2026 No salesmen explains their quality and origins; they speak for themselves.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Immediately, I can see myself in this scene. Taking a trip to Target to pick up one thing, but along the way, cruising the aisles, seeing all the other products that I decide I want or need as well. We have a saying in our household, \u201cyou can\u2019t go to Target and get just one thing.\u201d It always turns out that way!<\/p>\n

But Miller isn\u2019t really talking about \u201cthings\u201d or \u201cproducts\u201d at all. His larger thesis is that all of our ideas, ideologies, symbols, beliefs, practices and values are easily \u201ccommodified\u201d, made sterile, offered like a loin in a meat aisle for instant, easy consumption.<\/p>\n

I am reminded of traveling in Latin America and seeing the amazing number of t-shirts, postcards, shot glasses, and other knickknacks featuring Ernesto \u201cChe\u201d Guevarra. Che is a cultural icon, a hero to many of the Cuban Revolution, and a beacon of resistance against capitalism and its woes. But Che, like most everything else around him, has been commodified. Disney-fied. Made palatable to the masses, including those who would never really share his struggle, his beliefs or his revolutionary approach.<\/p>\n

Miller writes that, \u201cA sign-drenched culture unfolds: designer clothes progresses from an emphasis on form and style to the literal wearing of signs\u2014stylized G\u2019s, A\u2019s, DKNY, Tommy, and so on. The \u201cuse value\u201d of objects is their sign value.\u201d[3]<\/a> In other words, the more familiar or \u201cdrenched\u201d in these symbols our society becomes, the more the \u201cuse value\u201d or intrinsic meaning, or substance of the thing, is defined by the \u201csign value\u201d, or how powerful or recognizable (or consumable) the brand is.<\/p>\n

All of this comes closer to home, when I consider the way that this critique rings true for the church as well. In her review, Courtney Wilder describes \u201cthe two central interactions between religion and consumerism: religion as consumer product and religious people as consumers of religious ideas, images, and everyday products.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

In his commentary on Romans 4, John Calvin writes that \u201cby themselves (sacraments) profit nothing, yet God has designed them to be the instruments of his grace\u2026\u201d[5]<\/a> So, in a theological sense, the Roman Catholic Miller is on the same ground as the Reformed Tradition, in its understanding of the sacraments of Baptism and Communion as being the \u201csign\u201d, which point to the \u201cthing being signified.\u201d<\/p>\n

The work of the church, when it comes to the sacraments, is to help draw the lines clearly between the water, bread or cup, with the real, spiritual truth or value that is underneath it. But, as in our commodified culture, even these core experiences of our faith can be reduced to \u201ccome and get it\u201d, rather than, a deeper engagement. And even more importantly, the critique goes further, to suggest that faith leaders (like myself) might be more interested in people showing up to church and coming forward for communion, which are in a sense \u201cconsumables\u201d, rather than tying them into the community of faith where we come to understand what it means.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s book does not simply describe the environment around us, outside, which we can dispassionately observe and discuss. He is also talking about how we ourselves have become part of this same consumer system. Indeed, as Miller describes, \u201cif Marx\u2019s analysis of early capitalism described a shift from \u2018being to having,\u2019 Debord sensed an equally profound shift under way around him, this one from \u2018having to appearing.\u2019\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Although it was published in 2003, Miller\u2019s book, and his use of Guy Debord\u2019s thinking, are strikingly fresh, even 15 years later. The shift is no longer just from \u201cbeing to having\u201d (we have had that discussion!). But in a social-media age, and an image rich environment [7]<\/a>, the disconnection grows larger, because we actually move from having to \u201cappearing to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the outcomes of reading this book for me, is simply a reminder that the work we do in the church in \u201cmeaning making\u201d, is not something that can be taken lightly. In the environment in which we live, even our own religious traditions and symbols will be appropriated and \u201cborrowed\u201d (Miller uses the term \u201cransacked\u201d). It is a call to me to be more attentive, not only to the language that I use (in avoiding \u201cconsumerist imagery\u201d), but also that the ongoing work is really important.<\/p>\n

For the depths of a faith that matters to really be reached, I must see clearly the affect of the consumer culture on myself and my church, even as we seek to speak into it with truth and grace.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Vincent J. Miller,\u00a0Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Continuum International, 2003), 3.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Vincent J. Miller,\u00a0Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Continuum International, 2003), 38.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Vincent J. Miller,\u00a0Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Continuum International, 2003), 61.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Courtney Wilder, review of\u00a0Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>, by Vincent J. Miller,\u00a0The Journal of Religion<\/em>\u00a085, no. 4 (October, 2005): 681,\u00a0http:\/\/www.journals.uchicago.edu\/doi\/abs\/10.1086\/499463<\/a>\u00a0(accessed February 8, 2018).<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> John Calvin,\u00a0The John Calvin Bible Commentaries: Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Romans<\/em>\u00a0(North Charleston: Createspace, 2015), 83.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Vincent J. Miller,\u00a0Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Continuum International, 2003), 59.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Leonard Sweet,\u00a0Giving Blood: A Fresh Paradigm for Preaching<\/em>\u00a0(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 43.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his introduction to \u201cConsuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture\u201d, Vincent J. Miller writes, \u201cthis book explores how consumer culture changes our relationships with religious beliefs, narratives, and symbols\u2026 chapter 2 will present the core of the analysis. The basic idea is the \u2018commodification of culture.\u2019\u201d[1] This book is both refreshing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[255,1134,827],"class_list":["post-16353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-miller","tag-vincent","tag-vincent-j-miller","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16353"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16355,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16353\/revisions\/16355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}